health care

Aspen Valley Hospital welcomed a new CEO last week. Dan Bonk started work at the small, non profit hospital on January 2nd. Before arriving in Aspen, Bonk was an executive at Wisconsin’s largest health care system, Aurora Health Care. The 30-year health care veteran talked to Aspen Public Radio’s Marci Krivonen about moving the hospital’s expansion forward and dealing with controversy.

Governor John Hickenlooper says he could get involved with bringing down health insurance prices. That could have a real impact for residents of the Roaring Fork Valley and other mountain towns. Garfield County asked the state's top official earlier this month to intervene with high premiums. The County believes Colorado officials did a sloppy job earlier this year when coming up with prices. But some experts say the state didn't make any mistakes.

Garfield County wants Governor John Hickenlooper to intervene with the state's new health insurance rules. The county has some of the highest premiums in Colorado under new guidelines, which are part of the Affordable Care Act. The state agency in charge of the new rules recently visited communities around the state to explain why premiums are so high. But Garfield County officials remain unconvinced.

About three years ago, a relative of mine went to the emergency room at Aspen Valley Hospital with stroke-like symptoms. He did not have health insurance because of a pre-existing condition and he did not have the ability to pay for emergency health care, but the hospital treated him nevertheless. Following a battery of tests, he was discharged from the hospital with a hefty bill. The hospital gave him three choices: pay the bill immediately in a lump sum and get a 20% discount; pay the face amount of the bill in installments over a period of a year; or declare himself a charity case a

If you thought the debate over health care reform was complicated to follow the shopping experience for health insurance may be equally hard to understand. First of all the prices people will encounter vary. Aspen Public Radio's Roger Adams went shopping for policies on the Colorado Health Exchange - Connect For Health Colorado.

The bulk of the federal Affordable Care Act takes effect next year and local governments are preparing. The tri-county region that includes the Roaring Fork Valley picked up a grant that will help people navigate the new health care options. Aspen Public Radio’s Marci Krivonen reports.

This story has been updated at 3:00 PM 5/22/13: scroll down to the end for the latest information.

Later today (Wednesday 5/22/13) the Colorado Division of Insurance will release the list of health insurance companies that want to be part of Colorado’s health exchange. So far 19 companies have applied to be included. The exchange is mandated by the Affordable Care Act, otherwise known as Obamacare, that was signed into law three years ago. The act requires that everyone have health insurance starting January first of next year. The health insurance law survived a Supreme Court challenge and Republican efforts to repeal it. Now, it’s coming into force. Over the next several months we will be reporting on how the new law will affect you. We begin with an explanation of the health care exchange. Aspen Public Radio’s Roger Adams reports.